Thailand tourist murder suspects retract confessions
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Two Myanmar men accused of killing two British backpackers on a Thai holiday island have retracted their confessions, their lawyers said on Wednesday, adding further confusion to an investigation that has attracted widespread critic…
Unfinished war in Sri Lanka threatens paradise regained
JAFFNA Sri Lanka (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – In the fishing village of Oori, two mothers await news of their young daughters who were taken to a care home three months ago after their alleged rape by members of the Sri Lankan navy.
Rise in divorce in Iran linked to shift in status of women
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Weddings in Iran have long been an over-the-top affair with families spending thousands of dollars to celebrate a union. But now some couples are splurging on an entirely different sort of nuptial celebration: a divorce party.
African rivalries weaken U.N. hand against rebels in Congo
KINSHASA (Reuters) – Hundreds of Rwandan rebels in eastern Congo are defying a six month ultimatum to disarm, ratcheting up pressure on regional powers and U.N. peacekeepers to eliminate, once and for all, a force at the heart of two decades of conflic…
Special Report: Traffickers use abductions, prison ships to feed Asian slave trade
PHANG NGA Thailand (Reuters) – When Afsar Miae left his home near Teknaf in southern Bangladesh to look for work last month, he told his mother, “I’ll see you soon.” He said he expected to return that evening.
Japan prosecutors set to rule on possible Fukushima indictments
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese prosecutors must decide this week whether to charge Tokyo Electric Power Co executives for their handling of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, in a process that could drag the operator of the stricken nuclear plant into criminal c…
Consumed by Islamic State, Iraq’s Anbar province a key battleground again
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – In recent weeks, the world has watched the battle to save Syria’s border town of Kobani from Islamic State. But the radical jihadists have for longer been engulfing another strategically more vital target – Iraq’s western Anbar province and its road to Baghdad.
Canada police talked to militant suspect, couldn’t stop attack
SAINT-JEAN-SUR-RICHELIEU Quebec (Reuters) – Canadian police said on Tuesday they had arrested a suspected militant as he was leaving the country, took away his passport and talked to him several times but had no chance of preventing him from killing a …
United States welcomes release of jailed Vietnam blogger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Tuesday welcomed Vietnam’s decision to release jailed blogger Nguyen Van Hai, who staged a hunger strike to protest treatment of political prisoners, and said he was set to travel to the United States.
Canada police say they were tracking man who killed a soldier
SAINT-JEAN-SUR-RICHELIEU Quebec (Reuters) – A Canadian man who rammed two soldiers in Quebec with his car, killing one of them, converted to Islam last year and was among 90 people being tracked by Canadian police on suspicion of taking part in militan…
